Made sure I never had to press the button 2x on my remote to open up my JCW exhaust.

http://vrosetta.blogspot.com/2016/12...uning-kit.html

 

I have to agree totally with this. I've always done my own oil changes and brake pads but never anything like I've done with my Gadget. I just replaced the power steering hoses, plasti-dipped the grille, and am going to re-dip the wheels tomorrow and get her ready for a 15% pulley that im hopefully going to pick up from Way Motor Works on monday. I want to try and get it done before I go home for Christmas. Had to take this while my buddy was looking underneath.



Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Winter Solstice, and whatever else you may celebrate. Cheers!

 

I feel the pressure. Gotta make a road trip next and have a lot to do here too. looking the same, lol.

 

I've got plenty of pulleys in stock so you are welcome to pick up tomorrow. FYI will be out for lunch with a customer from 1-2 tomorrow.

 

At last I installed my chrome grill and bumper trim that I've had waiting. The painted parts have an exclusivity that comes from being more expesive, but to me a chrome grill is part of the ur-Mini look. Along with four lights.

 

Looks great, Dennis. Maybe I need to ask Santa to get that for my R53!

http://new.minimania.com/part/NMX863...2-53-Cooper--S

I finally got around to ordering the chrome trunk handle for my R53, which is cracked.

Drive Hard. Drive Safe. Keep Grinning.

 

Blizzaks!

 

Got me eyes did! I can see at night. Was going to do it myself, but these guys did me right, plus a bring it back up to one year if they discolor again was well worth them doing it.

 

Nice! I did my one lens on Saturday.
When I purchased the car, it was obvious that the passenger side lens was just replaced, brand new. The drivers side was dull and the light wasn't as brite. Figured I'd get new 8000K bulbs and take care of the faded lens. When replacing the bulbs the new assembly had a different type of fitting that was connected to a ballast that was permanently connected to the bulb. The old unit I was able to replace just the bulb. Another thing, the new assembly was not the same color chrome on the inside as the older unit. The old unit may have faded a bit over time, but the new unit looks like a deeper richer chrome than the original. I'm a bit **** when it comes to these things, so I may just buy a new lens just so they will match, that sux though......

 

Merry Christmas NAM Miniacs and to our Sheldon.

 

Finally washed all of our summer wheels for winter storage. After a while it gets tiresome

 

Received my car back from it's final warranty service and my first paid oil change at 13050 miles. I had three problems which were corrected.

The biggest was my "track forward" button on the radio popped off a few months ago. They had to replace the radio! The button looked like it would just push back into place, but I could never get it back in place. My greatest fears were realized. When I was told the radio would need to be replaced, I thought the car would need to be re-programmed to recognize the radio, and I would lose all of the coding I've done to it.

I did lose all of my coding with the exception of my addition of the rear fog to the VO.

Now I'm worried about coding my car because I know my car has a much newer datens. I was coding with v52 or earlier and I believe I may now have v60. Additionally I've since upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10 and I don't even know if my install would work ANYWAY!

The only positive I was hoping for was that I would have manual spoiler control which many people with R58s seem to have. I still DO NOT have manual control with the latest update. My test was to do shopping leaving the spoiler up. Then I went on the freeway on the way home. It went back down after I hit the "lower" threshold speed. Another loss.

I now have A LOT of brushing up to do on NCS Expert/Datens. I do have about 15 pages which show software versions, production dates, the VO and all of my service history. These documents normally seem to be pretty private, but my SA understood my coding dilemma and my concerns.

Tomorrow I will officially be out of warranty.

 

Crossed an interesting mileage milestone.

Thanks NAM for coming along for the ride.

 

I hear ya! My 10-spoke Team Dynamics take longer to clean than the body of the car itself.

I still need to clean my summer wheels too. I put them away dirty.

 

Installed a new seat back cover yesterday. It also has new foam bolstering.






This is how it looked before. It had a small rip when I bought the car, and it had gotten worse over the last year and a half.

 

Where did you get the seat cover?

 

Snagged it on the NAM classifieds.

 

Finally got around to getting some small details taken care of today.

1. Replaced the passenger side grab handle
2. Removed the gas cap, cleaned it.
3. Replaced windshield wiper covers.
4. Replaced the spark plug wires and found out they were the original wires.
5. Replaced the windshield wiper blades, especially since I just had the windshield replaced.

Stay tuned. I'm only halfway through a box of project parts.












No wonder I had noise when these streaked across the windshield, crappy Anco brand. Replaced with Bosch.



Should be running a lot better now with new wires. Plug and a new coil soon.

 

Wow, looking great. What do you use to preserve the leather?

 

Even though I am doubting the reliability and shipping for extended warranties through Mini, I decided to continue on my path for unlimited black jack accessories and played with plasti dip. There is defiantly a learning curve for plasti dip. Tell me what you think? I'm thinking about getting a black jack roof decal if Infind one on sale and found a single racing stripe in plasti dip once I get better at it.

 

Changed the oil and filter, replaced the rear Mini badge, and troubleshot and repaired the PDC so it now works - thanks to advice from ECSTuning. Hav'in fun with the R52!

 

I've been dipping my Minis for 3 years now. I could give you some pointers if you're ever near Des Plaines. Dipping your headlight rings, washer covers, tail light rings, emblems, and grille trim are a great place to get started. After that, check out the Matte Blackout Beltline mod from Outmotoring. I'd probably avoid doing a PlastiDip racing stripe. Buy a real one and have it done professionally if you can. Dipping is best on trim IMHO. Here's the link and a picture of the results of my dipping my Red Pepper...

http://www.outmotoring.com/out-motor...gen2-gen3.html

This is just the rings, grille trim, and beltline. I've already done the washer covers and the license plate cover but it was after this picture. I'll be doing the emblems in the spring.

 

Congrats! That's a lot of miles. All good I presume!

 

I might take you up on the help. I wasn't able to keep the plastidip on the top of the logo. Still have some clean up yet. I used 4 coats.

 

Finally changed the battery after fighting with trying to figure out if I wanted to garage it for the winter. Decided I love this car too much to not drive it for a few months. God, a brand spanking new battery is sooo nice! She started up so much better than she ever has. Did an oil change too with Royal Purple. So glad I decided to not put her away for the winter. For the crummy winter days, I have my Matrix.